being spontaneous.

One of the things that attracted me to Matt before we were dating was his spontaneity.  I think now, all these years later, with kids, houses, his job, paying bills, managing a vacation rental and trying to get my art business making a profit, it's easy to forget how to be spontaneous.  I get caught up in making my lists and planning ahead and get a bit boring, I'm afraid.

So it was fun (in a stretching sort of way) to be spontaneous last weekend.  Matt had talked about getting a couple days off work in honor of "remembering Jessica day", when we usually do something as a family to remember her.  It had been eighteen years this year since she died.

He officially got the time off on Tuesday and started talking about driving to California on Thursday to go camping on the beach.  The thing about last-minute beach camping in California is that is is really hard to get a spot.  They open up reservations six months in advance, and if you don't get a reservation, you just drive there hoping there's a cancellation.  So that's where the spontaneity came in.

There was a campground with a few first-come-first-served spots, so that's what we were aiming for.  Thursday morning, we packed up the camping stuff, food, some clothing, the dog, and the kids and headed out.  We grabbed a few California travel books at the library on the way out of town, and we were off!

We had never seen so many windmills in one place before.  Hundreds and hundreds of them, both sides of the road, up in the hills, down on the low places, all different sizes and shapes of them.  It was definitely a windy several miles in that part of California.  They were for sure using their natural resources there! :)

Zoe was super excited to be with us on the trip.

So we got to Jalama Beach, the campground we'd been hoping to stay at, about 8:30 Thursday evening, and all the first-come-first-served spots were taken. It was also extremely windy at the campground, with the ocean right there. We decided to try out a nearby non-beach campground I'd found in a guidebook. 

The campground was in nearby Lompoc, a fun-sounding little town whose claim to fame is of producing over 2/3 of the world's flower seeds. There is a nearby restored Spanish Mission and they have lots of murals in their downtown. Definitely a place we wanted to visit during our stay. And they had a great little city campground, with several tent sites still available. For only $11 per night, it was a win-win situation. Open spot, quiet campground, nice town, no high winds, cheap price. 

So the next day, we decided to go check out Jalama Beach in the daylight and see if perhaps they had any cancellations for that night. They didn't. But we were okay with that, since we really liked the campground where we were. :) 

We went for a walk on the beach and had a picnic. It was great. 

Matt & the boys on Jalama Beach on Friday.

Jesse & Naomi

Sandcastles :)

On Saturday we went to the farmers market in Lompoc and did a bit of a self-guided tour of their murals using a brochure we got from the Chamber of Commerce.  (Somehow, I only took one photo of the murals.)

We visited a restored Spanish Mission near Lompoc on Saturday.  La Purisima Concepcion.  I don't have many photos because my phone ran out of battery power. :(

Some old saddles in the Mission.  The one in the back looked like the fenders were a pair of built-in chaps.  Pretty cool.

We heard from a local that Surf Beach was a great place to go to the beach, where you didn't have to pay to get in. And that they had just opened back up after the time they are closed for an endangered bird habitat. So we went with picnic food and enjoyed sitting on the beach at sunset. 

Now here's a sign you won't see at a beach in Marquette!  (Needless to say, we didn't go in the water here...)

Sunset at Surf Beach. 

Marissa, finishing up the hummus we had enjoyed with our dinner.  I love this pic, even with Matt's spoon in the front there, if you look close. :)

Who knew it was so hard to get a good pic of the two of us?  There are a whole series of these crazy shots of Matt & me on my phone. 

There.  That one's not so bad.  At least if you don't notice the graininess. :)

On our way home on Sunday, we made it our mission to find beaches to explore.  This was on a bluff where we couldn't get to the beach, but we saw a bridge next to a train bridge and decided to walk on it.

On our way back to the van, we got to see an Amtrak train on the upper bridge. Yay! :)  Matt & I had been on that same route in 1991, although going the other direction.

We noticed a lot of cars pulled off at this part of the highway, so we did, too.  Turns out it's a popular place for the locals.  Of course we had to get out & take a beach walk.  It was beautiful there.

I just thought this tree looked cool.

We stopped in Santa Barbara to see the country's largest fig tree.  I sure hope neither of our two fig trees get this big!  They would take over the whole backyard and the house, too. 

We enjoyed peanut butter & jelly sandwiches outside a fun cafe in Santa Barbara.  (Yes, we bought something there, to be able to use their patio and bathrooms.)  And then my phone ran out of power again, so I don't have any more pics of our trip home.

It was a great time in California, and now that I know there are cheap last-minute places to camp, I think we'll be back more often to enjoy the ocean.  It's crazy how close it is and how rarely we've gone.  Only about 7 1/2 hours away...